


Memory Lane

by ghostfox11



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode Tag, F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 03, Season/Series 02, Season/Series 03, season 2 episode 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 20:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19258555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostfox11/pseuds/ghostfox11
Summary: Oliver and Felicity spend a night at a karaoke bar with Oliver telling Felicity how he knows for a fact that she can sing. Felicity realizes that she really doesn't remember Thea's birthday party.





	Memory Lane

The summer that marked the start of their vigilante free lives had had its ups and downs. Oliver and Felicity hadn’t argued, but they had spoken their minds for the first few days on the road. Luckily, the air between them had been cleared, leaving them both feeling free and happy to start the rest of their lives. For three weeks they had driven along the coast, stopping overnight in various towns and cities ranging in size and population. The journey had brought them to a small rural town. The sort of town where everyone knew each other and so sitting in the only bar, with a karaoke machine taking center stage, left them with little option but to follow what had obviously become some sort of routine. For certain people like Claire and Louise only applause was expected even though they were both off key. Felicity reckoned their cleavage helped to cover that. For Greg, the only good singer of the night, many tears were shed. Tears had also been shed on behalf of the last three singers but they had been tears of laughter as each one tried to out-do the other in cheesiness. 

Oliver didn't think he could enjoy a night like tonight. Silliness and foolery left his system a long time ago. Even then he would much more likely to have been in a club, or making out with Claire, or Louise, or probably both, in one of the rooms upstairs some time before something as embarrassing as karaoke could have begun. And yet, watching Felicity interact with the crowd, the way her cheeks had tinted a light red with embarrassment at the poorer singers and how she had been one of the ones to almost cry during Greg’s rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart, Oliver found that he didn't need to try very hard to enjoy himself.

The karaoke seemed to be coming to an end, with most of the people in the room having performed or looking unlikely to do so, when a woman Oliver recognised as Gwen, approached their small table. 

"Well would the young strangers like to show this quiet town how singing is done in the big city?" she asked, swaying slightly as she finished and grabbing onto the table for support.

Felicity gave a quiet laugh and a shake of her head, "No I'm afraid singing isn't really my thing and Oliver here isn't one to perform." 

Oliver looked over at Felicity with a small smirk on his face before turning back to Gwen. "Actually Gwen, Felicity here is an amazing singer." 

Felicity spun to hit Olive in the chest, her face pulled into a tight frown. "I am not. And when have you ever heard me sing anyway?"

Oliver’s grin grew and he leaned down to whisper, "You really don't remember anything about Thea’s birthday party do you?" 

Felicity gulped.

Oliver turned to Gwen. “Just over a year ago my sister decided to hold a birthday party in the club she was running.” 

Sensing that this story would be good, Gwen pulled over a seat. Felicity placed her hand innocently on Oliver’s thigh, but it was poised to warn him if he decided to tell anything too embarrassing. She really didn’t remember much of that night.

Oliver continued, “I didn't want to go. I wasn't much of a party person any more and Felicity found me holding the invitation a few hours before the party.”

Felicity smiled. She could still picture him crouched in his seat by his arrows looking down at the piece of paper as though it might mortally wound him. "You were brooding,” she added, turning to Gwen, “It’s somewhat of a specialty of his.”

Oliver glared at her jokingly. He knew the spiraling that had resulted in his supposed brooding. He had been unsure if he was able to the man Thea needed that night. Just the week before he had snapped at Felicity and there had been everything going on with Roy and the mirakuru. He had confessed such thoughts to Felicity at the time. She had laughed at him, before apologizing, and explaining how it was funny that he could easily fight humans with super strength and yet he was scared by the thought of drunken people in a room. Oliver had tried to explain that he had too many masks already and he wasn’t sure he could face putting on another one that night. 

He, of course, couldn’t tell Gwen any of this so he supplied a brief explanation. “Felicity told me that I should just go and try to be myself. Do whatever would make me happy, so that Thea could see I was enjoying myself, and then leave.” 

Oliver remembered how lost that advice had left him as he was already so confused between the many masks he was wearing that he didn't know who Oliver was anymore. The old Oliver would have saw this as an opportunity for a one night stand. The vigilante in him would scan the room for any sort of threat and keep to the shadows to be ready for attack. But what did he want to do? 

“I thought for a while about what would have made me happy that night.” Oliver continued the story, covering Felicity’s hand with his and remembering how he had looked up at her and her reassuring smile. He had realized then that he wanted to spend the night with her. He had discovered when she was in Central City that he didn't just miss her in the office, or as a team member. It wasn’t just her professional skills that he needed. He had missed her rambling during their lunch break, her colorful clothes in the foundry, her voice in his ear when in the field. He had missed her friendship. Oliver had forced himself to take a breath, to think logically about what he was about to suggest. Did he really want to go to the party with Felicity by his side? After seeing her with Barry was it just jealousy or was it his guilt for hurting her feelings in Russia? Maybe it was still his thankfulness for her safety after everything with the Count. Whatever it was, whatever his mixture of emotions and experiences were trying to tell him, he knew one thing for sure: the answer was yes. 

“And I realized that what I wanted was for Felicity to be at my side. We had argued the week before, and things were complicated between us at the time, but I asked if she would accompany me as my friend.”

“And I of course said yes,” Felicity filled in. 

She recalled how she had been startled at the request, unsure why Oliver could possibly want her there. Sure he had said they were partners, and she saw him as a friend, but didn't he have other girls he would rather have went? But then she had realised:Tommy would have been that friend. Tommy would have went with him and now Oliver had no one. That was the only explanation she could reach. Plus she liked to get dressed up and had that dress she had bought on the sale a few weeks before. 

“We agreed to meet up and head into the party together but I was late and I found Felicity,” Oliver paused, unsure how to describe the foundry. 

“On my computer.” Felicity supplied. They shared a look and Oliver smiled at her. Gwen could fill in the blanks as she pleased. 

“Yes I found Felicity sitting on her computer looking so beautiful I was lost for words.” Oliver squeezed Felicity’s hand again when he saw her duck her head in embarrassment. Even after their few weeks together she still shied from his praise. He made a note to tell her later how he remembered every inch of that outfit. The dark green silk that had hugged her curves. How it had finished just below the knee, to remain modest, whilst the top had dipped enough to suggest otherwise. How he had been breathless when she stood, revealing silver heels that raised her height to make her tall enough to meet his shoulder. How they had accentuated her legs and backside beautifully. At the time he hadn’t been sure if he was allowed to comment on her beauty or not. It hadn't escaped his notice that it had felt like some sort of date and such comment would probably have made things more confusing than they already were. 

“When I came to my senses I suggested that I would buy her a drink for her trouble and she told me she deserved at least four. So really it was her own fault from the start that she can’t remember most of the night.” Oliver joked, laughing when Felicity hit his chest in retaliation.. 

“Hey I remember getting to the club and heading to the bar.” Felicity retorted. She had sensed Oliver’s discomfort in the crowd and how, without either of them saying the words, they had both decided to stay in the back. It was a position that allowed Oliver to see everyone and dark enough that they could remain unseen. It wasn’t just for his peace of mind. The rumours at QC had already been bad enough.

Oliver found that he could still picture the crowd. The place had been packed with laughing and enthusiastic young people looking like they were having a good time. Since everyone had been directly invited by his sister, he was once again hit by just how many people she had come to know when he had been away, how many she had met through the club. Had Oliver given out personal invitations to his friends the woman beside him and his bodyguard would have been the only two he could think of. He was once again struck by how different his life was.

“Yes and after the bar we sat by a small table at the back.” Oliver finished for her when he noticed that she was waiting for him to continue. “And that was when the waitress came over with a tray full of drinks. Apparently my sister had decided that I should drink as many as it took until I started enjoying myself-”

“Or at least smiled.” Felicity added. “Anyway I still remember that part and I took the first few shots as well.” She had come to the realization, when she had seen the waitress and all the drink available, that it had been a long time since she had gotten drunk. She had been so focused on work, and then joining Oliver's mission, that she hadn't exactly had the time to enjoy herself. In a month she had been kidnapped, watched both her best friends almost die, and her almost boyfriend had been struck by lightning. So that night she had decided that she deserved to have fun. And that Oliver did as well.

“I’d had a hard few weeks, and I knew that Oliver had too, so I suggested that we make the most of the free drink, even though he didn’t exactly have to worry about paying for any, and that we try to enjoy ourselves.” Felicity told Gwen.

“And I agreed,” Oliver said, adding in his head how it was an agreement to a night of fun as Oliver. Not the Arrow or Ollie, but just the man he had become, even if he wasn’t sure who that was yet. But that was what this trip was for and he was discovering more and more about that man now. And about the woman beside him.

“Which brings us to the point where my memory gets a little foggy,” Felicity confessed. “I remember us talking for a while, I’m not sure what it was about, or if I even want to know what I said.” She could recall that they had began to reminisce about first drinks and experiences being drunk. Oliver had shied away from talking much at first, and she could see the pain on his face when he spoke of Tommy, but it had soon turned into laughter as he thought of the good times with his friend. Good she had decided then. The man deserved to be happy.

Oliver and Gwen laughed. “I’ve had many nights like that Honey,” Gwen said, “So go on Oliver how did you find out Felicity could sing?”

“Well my sister appeared on the stage at some point near midnight to thank everyone for coming. Then she announced that for her old brother the next few songs would be from the 80s because she wanted to make sure I recognized at least some of the music. I think it was just an excuse to play songs she had had an obsession with since she was a kid whilst annoying me at the same time.”

“Yup don’t remember that part,” Felicity muttered.

“Yeah,” Olver continued, “But that was when your song played,” Oliver told her. 

Gwen and Felicity looked at him in confusion.

“I don’t think either of us had really been listening to the music the whole night but then, before any lyrics had even started, Felicity jumped to her feet and told me that this was her song and that I had to dance with her.” Oliver couldn’t help but smile as he remembered Felicity making an attempt at grabbing him and trying her hardest to pull him to his feet. Sober Felicity wouldn't have had much success but drunk Felicity nearly fell on top of him. 

“I tried to tell her that I didn’t dance but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and I found myself being dragged from my seat.” 

During Ra’s brain washing Oliver had frequently let his mind recreate what had happened next. How Felicity had began to sing. How he had watched in awe as she spun and moved her hips. How his hands had itched to touch as she swayed sensually to the music. How he had planned to dance in some sort of way, but his feet were rooted to the spot, his gaze glued to her, whilst she sang and twirled, her curves calling to him. 

“And then she started to dance and sing.” Oliver concluded, letting himself remember her voice singing to him: "Come on Oliver! I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody!" She had pulled him to her so he was almost pressed to her front and then she had spun so that her back was pressed to his chest. "Yeah I wanna dance with somebody! With somebody who loves me!" 

He remembered how he was thankful that she couldn't see the look on his face as she sang the last part. That she couldn't see what her swaying body was doing to him. That she probably wouldn't remember it tomorrow, for his hands fell to her hips, he pulled her closer to his chest and he met her desire. If she wanted someone who loved her to dance with her, well he could do that. 

"So yes Felicity, I know you can sing,” Oliver told her before turning to Gwen, “Or at least she can sing I Wanna Dance With Somebody, if that’s what it’s called?”

Felicity gasped. She used to dance to that song with her mother when she was younger, before her dad left and took her childhood with him. She had always sworn that he wouldn’t take her good memories too and that was one of the best ones. But tonight wasn’t the time for melancholy. She rose to her feet. "Oh I don't know Oliver, I think I might need your help, or do I need to show Gwen that video I found of you and Tommy singing Hey Jude at your Mother’s birthday party?" Felicity threatened using her height, now that she was standing, to tower over him.

Meanwhile Gwen was already out of her seat having, upon hearing the song’s name, ran to the karaoke machine and began frantically searching for it. 

They shared a knowing, heated look with each other. As Felicity started to move away from him,   
Oliver effortlessly finished the rest of his drink, before rising to his feet. “I believe I was drunk in that video Miss Smoak. "

"I believe that means we were both drunk during our last performances Mr Queen and I don't know about you but the bottle of wine at dinner and whatever cocktails Derek has been making have me feeling a bit tipsy." 

Oliver slyly pinched her backside. As she squealed in surprise he bent down to whisper in her ear. “Oh yes the alcohol is certainly having an effect. Red wine is an aphrodisiac is it not?"

He could see Felicity swallow. "You aren't getting out of this Oliver. So stop trying to get me to go upstairs. We are singing this song and then the rest of the night is yours alright?"

Oliver nodded and she could see the mischievous glint in his eyes as he ran them over her. She was still not used to that.

The music started just as they reached the front and Felicity quickly took a microphone laughing at Oliver’s reluctant, limp hold on his. 

Just as the words started to appear on the screen she turned to him and whispered close enough, and quiet enough, so that the microphones couldn't catch her, “I’ll start dancing when you start singing." 

Oliver started singing before the first line finished.

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you once again goes to my discord fam for all of their encouragement and advice!


End file.
